Linkbar

We normally have visitors every Christmas – friends, neighbors, but mostly relatives. But this Christmas it was different. By 11:00 AM last Dec. 25, our house was literally full. SRO. 3 vans full of relatives and more.

It was fun, but I have to honestly say that I don’t like kids. You know the under-10-year-olds that are literal pain in the arse. It went well, though. But I found myself sleeping in Nanay’s bed in the middle of it all. The lack of sleep from the previous morning masses took its toll. Yes, on Christmas day.

Juansen, who I hope is not becoming anti-social like me, joined me in the bedroom eventually. He was Facebooking on his Dell when a friend of his posted that she finished Qwop. What? And he showed me what he and his classmates are currently playing. And Qwop it was.

You will be Qwop, the nation’s sole representative to the Olympics. And you will only be allowed to use Q-W-O-P on your keyboard.

It was so fun but I have to admit, I’m no good at these flash games. So for 4 days now, I find myself playing Qwop whenever I can. And this is the best I’ve done:

55 meters. But I have to warn you it’s very addicting (read: time consuming).

Okay, I’m not really a fan of the mall but this is my second post about MOA so perhaps I’m beginning to like it there.

My old neighborhood friends and I marked December 4th as our reunion after some years of not being completely together. Well, we were still not complete that day cuz one was in Dubai, the other was in Camarines Sur, and the other one’s 5-year-old bumped his head a few hours before the time we agreed to meet.

Okay so, the original plan was just to have dinner at Gerry’s Grill cuz one of us still had to go to work at ten. But when we learned that she took the night off, we immediately changed plans. The supposed dinner became a night out of beer and sounds.

Having not gone to a night-out for quite some time, all of us didn’t know what was the in place to go. So we decided to just go to MOA’s Sunset Strip and just choose from there. With all the bars lining up the strip, we were sure an establishment or two would attract our attention.

We first looked for a place to dine, since all of us haven’t had dinner yet cuz we were supposed to meet up just for dinner. After much walking inside the mall and arguing over Mann Hann or McDonald’s (weird choices), we settled for Kalye Juan (the signage of which, by the way, was written in jejemon).

The small resto was full we were just so lucky that a group of diners decided to leave just as we were entering the establisment. From the name of the resto, we were expecting to have a very Pinoy dinner - you know with sinigang na baboy, kare-kare and all that. They had those in their menu, alright, but uh, I know I could cook better than their chef.

To add to that, their service was so slow we wished we lined up at McDonald’s instead. At least there, we would know what to expect. And don’t get me wrong with that, I love McDo very much.

Anyway, after the Php1,840 dinner (not bad considering we were a party of 8), we headed to the Sunset Strip. And since it’s our first time in years to go out together, there was much picture taking. What with all the Christmas decorations MOA had put up for the eyes to feast.

There was the giant Christmas tree…

The wreaths adorning the light posts…

And Manny Pacquiao’s statue among others.

It was just so funny that the statue didn’t look like Pacquiao at all. After much pondering on who the statue’s face reminded me of, I laughed when I realized it looked like the boxer’s big fan Mark Wahlberg. Really, you should take a closer look.

Anyway, after more picture taking and walking, we ended up at the resto-bar named StarDish. My friends chose that bar cuz it’s one of the only two that had live bands performing. And for that, we sat nearest the side of the stage.

It was almost midnight when we started drinking, and since I am really not much of a drinker, I only had a couple of bottles. Two bottles that lasted until about 2:30 AM. Beer was cheap. We had four buckets plus a couple order of finger foods and we only paid Php1,340. Well, Rachel dropped 500 so the rest of us only spent around 120 pesos each. Quite cheap for a very fun stay. I must say, it’s really the company (and not the place) that makes a night-out fun.

Anyway, I don’t really recommend StarDish to those who want fine service. But hey, if you’re like me who don’t wanna spend a lot just for drinking, it’s the place for you.

Arrived home around 3:30 AM to a waiting mom and an ecstatic-to-see-me Princess.

This is how far I was from the church door. I was luckier, though. Others attended mass outside the church gates.

No, but seriously, I almost couldn’t concentrate on anything anymore since December 16th. You see, I sleep at 12 AM, sometimes even later than that. Then I have to wake up at 3 AM to prepare for the 4 AM mass. I’ll arrive home by 5:45 AM then after breakfast I’ll have the luxury of another two hours of sleep. No more after that until 12 midnight again.

The first two days was okay. Exciting, even. Because this year, I decided to do Simbang Gabi alone. It’s not because of anything but the fact that I really wanna complete the nine mornings. It’s different when you plan things with someone. I’m sure I wouldn’t wanna go to church too if the person I planned to go there with cancels, just like what had happened many times before. And due to my desire to complete the nine mornings, and since I’m already kinda used to going out alone, I decided to do Simbang Gabi all by myself.

So I ride a tricycle and a jeep to go to church at around 3:30 AM. There are actually two churches near our house but I want to go to the church I (almost) grew up on. After mass, which ends at 5:00 AM, I walk 45 minutes, on a different route, to go home.

And I love walking during those hours when it’s dark and the normally busy road is almost deserted. Now, I’m not talking about your normal village street with residential houses and cars parked on the sidewalk, this is a road where jeeps and cars and even trucks pass by during the day.

Some parts are totally dark with no streetlights at all.

From the church, I pass by 7-11 to buy a 10-peso bottle of Hidden Spring. Then I start the 45-minute walk with only my earphones to keep me company. It’s hard to find others to walk with because my house is kinda far from the church. Most of the people from my area go to either one of the two nearby churches. And I kinda like it that way.

Czech American tennis great, Martina Navratilova, tried to climb the 19,341-foot summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro but was taken down by mountain porters due to breathing problems with just 5,000 feet to go.

Martina was taken to the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre for assessment and was eventually flown to the Nairobi Hospital for further tests. She suffered from high altitude pulmonary oedema - an accumulation of fluid in the lungs.

The 54-year-old, 18-time Grand Slam champion was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year but declared herself cancer-free six months after. She underwent 6 weeks of radiation treatment to make sure cancer cells are all killed.

The rest of Martina’s Mt. Kilimanjaro team, consisting of 27 climbers, was gutted to know that Martina had abandoned the climb, but they had to continue what they had started.

As for Martina, many may think that she failed. But for a cancer survivor to be able to climb 14,000 feet above sea level is quite an achievement.